Donuts with Dad and some stuff I've cooked/baked

Today at South Bosque it's Donuts with Dad!  This is the first year they have done it so I'm not sure what they do but the girls said they will eat donuts and then Craig gets to go and watch them do some work.  I can't wait to hear all about it, of course I asked C to call me after it's done. :o)

The t-shirts I made for Mac's b-day last year paid off for this event!  The girls wore their donut t-shirts for the special day.  Look how tall the girls are, WOW!!!!

Ok now onto food I've made.  Craig went to L.C. a week ago and when he got home I decided to make him his favorite meal.  I told him I wasn't sure why I decided to do that since he was in L.C. fishing and I was at home doing the usual and taking care of the girls...but he's been studying hard for his exams and he deserves a special meal.  Of course it helps that this meal is also the girls and my favorite as well!  In the oven is Chicken Kiev, my mom used to make it for us and it's so delicious!!!!  I've tried to make it a little less fat, you normally use real cream cheese and then you fry it until the chicken is cooked. I've changed it to fry it until brown on the outside and then bake it.  Here is my recipe:

3 chicken breasts

1/2 stick of butter- soft not melted

1 8 oz of fat free cream cheese (you could use 1/2 fat free too)-room temp

1 TBSP of lemon pepper

1 TBSP Italian herbs

1TBSP minced dried onion

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

1 cup egg whites

1/2 cup flour

2 cups vegetable oil

Put the chicken in between 2 sheets of wax paper and use a mallet to pound the chicken until it's flattened. Repeat with all 3 breasts.

Mix cream cheese, butter, lemon pepper, herbs, and dried onion in a small bowl.  Put a small spoonful of cheese mix into the middle of each chicken breast.  Then wrap each side of the chicken up and use toothpicks to secure it closed.  Before you dip each chicken go ahead and heat oil in small sauce pan until it's hot enough to fry. Then get 3 shallow bowls and put egg whites in one, flour in another, and breadcrumbs in the last.  Dip each chicken breast in the flour then egg then bread crumbs. Carefully using tongs put one chicken breast in hot oil until the outside is brown.  Repeat with each chicken breast.  After each chicken breast is brown put them in a baking dish and bake at 400 for about 25 minutes.  I always cut a slit in each chicken breast to make sure they are fully cooked.  I promise you will love these!  They are so good!!!  Labor of love b/c there are a few steps but so good!! 

Craig's other favorite is "boats" which is another name for Twice Baked potatoes.  I think he made this name up when he was little, either he did or his sister Lisa did.  The girls love them too!!  I just heat potatoes like I would to make baked potatoes then cut them down the middle, scoop out the "guts" and just make mashed potatoes.  Sometimes I'll add truffle oil, other times I'll add some garlic.  Whatever I have at the time.  Then my twist on "Kay's boats" I use a ice cream scoop to scoop the potatoes into each potato skin. The girls love this because they say it looks like a "ice cream sundae boat"Then I add a little cheese and pop them into the oven for a few minutes to warm and melt cheese.

Set the table cute and even light the candles!

Normally I make green beans b/c those 3 things are the "perfect meal" for C but they did not have one single fresh green bean that week at HEB!  It was weird, no bin for the beans or anything so we did our 2nd fav- asparagus. 

Yesterday I had a great busy day of cleaning, cooking, and baking!  Love those days.  Missy gave me a yummy recipe for A to Z bread.  It is so darn good and EASY!!!  I will give you all the ingredients but when it comes to the fruits/veggies you pick 2.  You can do anything you have at your house.  I usually ALWAYS try to put zucchini in it b/c then I can say my kids eat zucchini.  Yesterday I used zucchini and a can of pumpkin.  The combinations are endless, bananas, apples, apple sauce, pears, carrots, etc...

2 cups of flour (I mix whole wheat and regular flour- I like the taste better)

3 cups of sugar (I know that's a lot I might try splenda sometime!)

1 TSP baking soda

1 TSP baking powder

1 TBSP vanilla

2 TSP cinnamon 

1 cup of vegetable oil

1 TSP salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups of fruits or veggies - your choice

Mix sugar, oil, and eggs.  Stir in your A to Z fruit/veggie choice and vanilla.  Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into liquid ingredients just until moistened.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans or cupcake liners.  Bake at 325 for 55-65 minutes for loafs and about 17 minutes for muffins.

If you want to glaze them then you can mix a little skim milk, dash of vanilla, and powdered sugar together and paint them on the bread with a brush. As you can see in the pics below I actually made 24 muffins, and 3 small loaves using this recipe.  Which worked out great b/c then the girls took their teacher a loaf! I wrapped them up really cute but of course I didn't get a pic! Rrrrrrrr

Monster Fingers

The girls and I made some really cute "Monster Pens" to give to their classmates.  We love to do crafts together and this one was fun, fast, and easy.  All you need is white model magic, ballpoint pens, black fake fingernails, and a tooth pick.

1st you take a ball of model magic that is a bit smaller than a golfball.

Roll it out like a snake.  Make it about the same length as the pen.

Flatten the model magic.

Put your pen in the model magic and squish it down a bit.

Cover the pen with the model magic and kind of squeeze it together.

Lightly roll the model magic covered pen to smooth out the lines.

It should be covered except for the tip of the pen.

Then you take a fingernail and stick it on the end.  Make sure you leave enough of the pen exposed so you can write with it.

You might need to cover a little bit of the bottom of the nail so it will really stay put!

Use a the side of the toothpick to make lines for the knuckles.

More knuckle lines.

40 Monster Pens!

Pretty cool!  Mac wants to paint the end red when they are dry.  She's like her mom, she likes creepy stuff!

Thinking about mom

Like every American September is such a surreal month.  Sunday Craig, the girls, and I watched the stories about 9/11.  Like every year I cry thinking about those innocent, brave people that had their lives taken from them for absolutely no reason.  Along with the memory of 9/11 I also am then taken back to that same September 10 years ago because during 9/11 and the days before that my mom was facing the battle of her life and 18 days after 9/11 she lost that battle.  As I was sitting on the couch fighting back tears ( and I do mean fighting them back, the kind that makes your neck hurt because your trying so hard not to loose it!) Craig  noticed that I was sitting there quietly crying.  Being the man I love so much without many words he just acknowledged that September is really a hard time for me.  I just quietly nodded and continued the internal fight with my pain.  I'm like every American and feel the pain for all of those innocent people but I also am taken back to the last month I had with my mom.  When I have those times of "breaking down"(as I like to call it) I sort of get mad at myself because I don't know why I rehash all of the sad times I had in September.  My mom wouldn't want me to sit here and think about those things.  She would want me to think of how active she was and how she seriously couldn't sit still for 5 minutes.  Like the time that when I was about 14 years old and we had gotten home from church.  My dad was sitting on the chair reading the newspaper and I was lying on the couch ready for an afternoon nap. My mom had told both of us we needed to get up and get outside and get some sun (she always believed everybody looked better with a tan- oh my!) we of course said,"Ok, in a minute." I swear not 5 minutes went by and the loudest noise made me and my dad jump!  She of course was outside and took the water hose, turned it to the "jet feature" and sprayed the window!  Point taken, dad and I were outside quickly.  I have so many little stories like that and have promised myself one day I'm going to write them all down so I can read them whenever I need a little pick me up or trip down memory lane.  

So after I have my small break down I normally feel a little better, a good cry for some reason helps and then I enjoy remembering my mom the way she would want to be remembered.  With all of that said I also find my mourning in the month of September to be somewhat healing.  I can look back at those sad times and it's a time of reflection for me. Reflection for the fact that I had a mom that loved me so much, a mom that was a giver (she loved to help anybody), a mom that enjoyed life, a mom that was a true believer in Christ, and also I realize the kind of mom and person I want to be.

So about now you might wonder why I'm posting pics of recipes!  This first one makes me think of my mom.  Do you have things that remind you of people or places?  I do!  Every time I take the first sip of apple juice I am instantly taken back to my Grandmommy's house!  It makes me so happy!!  So like that I have several things that make me think about my mom some are food, some are smells, some are flowers, the list goes on.  This is a recipe that she would make all the time and they are ADDICTING!!! The recipe follows:

1 packet of Ranch dip mix

2 TBSP of dillweed

1 TSP of lemon pepper

1/4 TSP of garlic powder

1 1/2 cups of cooking oil

2 packages of oyster crackers.

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl, pour it the over crackers(they are spread out on cookie sheet) stick the cookie sheet into a preheated 200 oven and cook them for 30 minutes.  Every 10 minutes stir the crackers around to cook evenly. Let them cool and store them in an air tight container (as long as they last !) 

Pic of all the ingredients.

I put foil down so I don't have to wash the pan, anytime I can save myself from washing anything I do it!  Make sure and spread the crackers out.

This is one of my pieces of Jadite.  Another thing that reminds me of mom.  We would go around everywhere trying to collect it. Love it!  One day it will be displayed in my kitchen.

I got this for the girls at the HEB.  They love to cook with me, I love to use it while whisking small stuff like dressing, etc...

Yummy!  

Bake for 30 minutes and stir every 10 minutes.

Craig and the girls are going to be happy campers when they get home today!!!

This next recipe is a weight watcher recipe that I know my mom would have loved if she were still here. It's super easy and the girls love these muffins!  They are 2 points on weight watchers.

 Recipe:

1 Box of Spice cake mix

1 can of pumpkin (15 oz) make sure it's pumpkin not pumpkin pie mix!!

1/2 cup egg substitute 

Icing ( I don't do this we just like them plain, plus I think if you leave this off maybe points are a little less)

1/4 cup orange juice

2 TBSP powder sugar 

little orange zest

Preheat oven to 350, mix cake mix, pumpkin and egg sub.  Scoop into cupcake liners.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Let them cool.  Mix orange juice, sugar, and zest drizzle over muffins.

I made the muffins b/4 taking pics of ingredients so in this pic there is a pic of "pumpkin pie mix"  don't use that just use "pumpkin"  I tried to restage and I didn't have another can of pumpkin.  I also ran out of egg beaters and showed egg whites but you get the idea.  Just follow the recipe! :o)

Fall Teacher gifts

I wanted to make the teachers a cute fall decoration this year so I went to my new favorite website, Pinterest!  If you have never checked this site out you need to, it's amazing!  You can get all kinds of ideas, from decorating your mantel to fashion ideas to holiday planning. You type what your looking for in the search section and it will connect you with ideas. It's full of great ideas and I love to find ideas and then tweak them or just copy them.  I fell in love with this wreath idea and wanted it for my door. I went to Hobby Lobby and all the "fixins'" were on sale so I thought perfect teacher gift.  Each wreath came out to about $12, pretty good. 

I bought a straw wreath, pumpkins(you can't see them but they have a stick attached so you can stick them into wreath), spanish moss, floral pins, and burlap. 

All you do is pull and lay moss on the wreath and then stick floral pins into the wreath.  This was messy but for some reason fun.  There isn't a wrong way to do it.  The moss kind of sticks together b/c it's all twisted together so then you just stick pins where ever it kind of sags.

Pic of covered wreath, took maybe 5 minutes.

The moss was kind of messy so I didn't take pics of the rest along the way,but after you cover the wreath just stick in the pumpkins how ever you like. Then to finish it off use the burlap to make a bow.  I secured it to the back side of the wreath with a couple of floral pins.